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| Tuesday, Nov 29 '11, Kislev 3, 5772 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. Katyusha Missiles Fired from Lebanon at Northern Israel
by Elad Benari  At least four Katyusha missiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel overnight Monday. Kol Yisrael Radio reported that the missiles exploded in two communities near the border with Lebanon. There were no reports of physical injuries but damage was caused to a chicken coop in one of the communities. The IDF Spokesman said that IDF forces returned fire and said in a statement, “The IDF is treating this as a serious incident and wishes to emphasize that it sees the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army as responsible for the prevention of fire at Israel.” The statement said that the IDF’s Northern Command is conducting an ongoing assessment in light of the events. Channel 2 News reported that residents from the communities of Ma’alot and Kfar V'radim reported hearing explosions in the area. According to the report, a preliminary investigation indicated that the explosions came from the Lebanese side of the border. Though the border with Lebanon has generally been quiet in recent years, in January of 2009three missiles were fired from Lebanon and exploded near Kiryat Shmona. No injuries were reported. In October of 2009, terrorists in southern Lebanon fired a Katyusha on the Upper Galilee. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. The IDF retaliated with half a dozen rounds of artillery fire. In August, a Lebanese army soldier opened fire on Israeli soldiers manning the northern border. It was the first incident at the border in a year.
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2. Muslim Brotherhood Raising Jordan to Boiling Point
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  A growing reality of the nightmare of refugees from Iraq, from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and from Syria swarming across the borders to Jordan, along with the growingly influential Muslim Brotherhood, threaten the kingdom’s stability, researchers report. “Within the Kingdom and across three of its borders, unfolding developments carry far reaching implications for the region in general and Jordan’s stability in particular,” according to Oded Eran of the Institute for National Securities Studies (INSS). King Abdullah faced minor but unusual protests earlier this year, particularly from Bedouin and other Arabs who previously fled Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley during Arab-Israeli wars as well as under the PA regime. Another ingredient in the boiling Jordanian pot is Iraq. “The U.S. final withdrawal from Iraq may cause anarchy there, which in turn will increase the flow of Iraqi refugees to Jordan,” Eran wrote. “More than half a million people fled to Jordan in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, exacerbating economic demands and inflationary pressures,” he added. “Ongoing Sunni-Shiite tension may draw Jordan against its will into the conflict, as occurred in 2005 when a Jordanian suicide bomber killed 127 Iraqis in Hillah, mostly Shiites, approximately 100 km south of Baghdad." The violence in Syria already has spread across the Jordanian border. Syrian soldiers shot at a girl fleeing to Jordan earlier this week, and Jordanian forces rescued her and shot in the air. Last week, Jordanian soldiers arrested a youth for allegedly for helping Syrians to buy arms, and he died in jail, prompting street protests. Thousands of Syrian protesters have flooded Jordan, and the success of the protest movement may fan flames in the kingdom. The Muslim Brotherhood stands ready to help this happen. Although Jordan would be pleased with Assad's demise if it weakens ties with Iran, “the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan has sided with the Syrian anti-government forces…puts King Abdullah in an awkward situation. The specter of Jordanian and Syrian Muslim Brotherhood cooperation no doubt raises concerns in the Jordanian palace.” The monarch went so far as to say that “If I were in his [Assad’s] shoes, I would step down,” but after media reported that he was outrightly urging Assad to quit, the king backtracked. Another huge threat to King Abdullah is the prospect of a Palestinian Authority unity government that would restore Hamas’s status in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley. Although Jordanian palace officials said that on the king’s recent visit to Ramallah, he discussed the proposal from a positive point of view, Eran noted, “A Fatah-Hamas joint platform of action, which may put an end to any prospect of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, would be viewed with great concern in Amman. The absence of any negotiations may drift into violent friction between Israel and the Palestinians with dire consequences for all concerned, Jordan included. “The fear in Jordan of another wave of Palestinians fleeing a third intifada, in addition to fears from Syrian and Iraqi refugees, must surely cause sleepless nights in Amman.”
Tags: Jordan ,Muslim Brotherhood
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3. Approved: 119 New Homes for Shilo
by Gavriel Queenann  Israel has approved construction of over 100 homes in the Samaria community of Shilo. Shilo currently has 195 permanent homes and a number of caravans. The new construction will increase Shilo's size by roughly 60%. More than 310,000 Israelis live in Judea and Samaria with an annual growth rate topping 10%. The radical left Peace Now organization - which receives 34% of its funds from foreign sources - decried the move saying it would bring "fresh international condemnation." Hagit Ofran of the radical leftist Peace Now organization said the group only learned the new units were officially approved after it petitioned Israel's Supreme Court in March, asking construction of an initial 50 housing units be stopped. Instead of succeeding in halting construction, however, Peace Now received a formal government response saying the building was approved. "In reply... the Defense Ministry informed us that it had last month approved a plan to build 119 housing units, including the 50 already under construction,” Ofran told AFP. A Defense Ministry spokesman told AFP the construction licenses had been given retroactively for "units already under construction," while those still in the planning stage would require separate permits in order for work to begin. The approval reportedly comes as a part of a government pledge to speed up construction efforts in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem last month.
Tags: Peace Now ,Shilo ,Yesha ,construction approval
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4. Supreme Court Stays Givat Assaf Ruling Until July 2012
by Gavriel Queenann  Israel's Supreme Court accepted a request submitted on behalf of the Defense Ministry by the State Attorney to postpone a final ruling regarding the community of Givat Assaf near Beit El. The court directed State Attorneys to submit a brief updating them on the future of Givat Assaf in July 2012. The State's request for a stay came amid furor among nationalist and lawmakers from ruling Likud coalition over a decision by Supreme Court president Dorit Benisch that effectively doomed several Jewish towns and neighborhoods in Judea and Samaria after suits filed by leftist NGO's claiming they were built on Arab land. Benisch ruled all disputed parcels of land in Judea and Samaria not registered as state land were ‘Arab land' by default. This ignores the fact that Jordan was an occupier of the area from 1949-1967 only and the land was originally supposed to be part of the Jewish homeland. The High Court, which does not hear evidentiary disputes, also refused to refer the case to a lower court, despite the lack of evidence of ownership on the part of claimants and evidence of private Jewish land ownership pursuant to some of the parcels being in play. The decision led critics to charge the court was issuing an ideological ruling under the color of law and caused a confrontation between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the majority of the lawmakers in his own faction. MK Yariv Levin warned Netanyahu that carrying out demolition orders in threatened communities – like Givat Assaf – could split the Likud. Netanyahu also found himself under pressure from the faction heads of his ruling coalition, who represent a majority of seats in the Knesset. As a result, after reports of elevated disputes between Netanyahu's office and the bureau of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the state requested a stay in order to find an alternative to demolishing the outposts. The PMO says it is striving to find a legal solution that would normalize the threatened communities - notably Amona, Givat Assaf, Migron, and Beit El's Ulpana neighborhood - and avert their destruction. Critics of the Supreme Court and Civil Administration say other - more just - solutions exist to land disputes than destroying homes and evicting families from disputed land that was built with the knowledge and/or cooperation of the government. In the few cases where a disputant can prove private-ownership through normal evidentiary means, they say, monetary compensation or alternative land grants should be the norm.
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5. Re-Enactment on Tuesday of UN Recognition of Israel
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  The World Zionist Organization is staging in Jerusalem on Tuesday (today) a re-enactment of the November 29, 1947 recognition of Israel by the United Nations. The event will take place at 1:30 p.m. at 48 King George Street in the center of the capital. The dramatic vote in the United Nations 64 years ago gave the British Empire one year to leave the country it had occupied since 1917, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. For video on the historic day, click here. Besides live entertainment and street performers, Jewish Agency chairman and former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky will speak. Other speeches will be delivered by World Zionist Organization officials and Knesset Member Danny Danon, chairman of the Knesset Committee for Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs. The Palestinian Authority recently has added to November 29 to its list of "catastrophes" besides May 15, the day that Israel declared independence. MK Danon wants to counter the anti-Zionist incitement with a law that would proclaim it “National Zionism Day.”
Tags: November 29 ,Nakba ,Zionism ,Israel
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6. New Knesset Lobby for Death Penalty on Terrorist Murderers
by Gil Ronen  A new Knesset lobby was established Monday, to advocate for imposing the death penalty on terrorist murderers. A new Knesset lobby, the Lobby for the Imposition of the Death Penalty on Terrorist Murderers, was formally established Monday evening. The first meeting of the lobby was held in the Knesset and chaired by Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud), on the same day the second murderer in the Fogel family massacre was convicted. "The fact that we are sitting in the Knesset today, on the day of the verdict in the trial of the terrorist who murdered the Fogel family, has great symbolism," Kara said. "We call on the Military Court judges in Salem to impose the death penalty on the murderers," he said. Kara said the lobby will advocate changes in the military and civil law books, to make it possible to impose the death penalty on terrorist murderers. This lobby will advance the laws in coordination with the government, he said, while rallying a large public consensus in their favor. The lobby decided to establish a committee of legal experts who will formulate a position paper that will serve as a basis for a "balanced and stable" bill that will receive wide backing in the Knesset and in the public. Professor Avraham Gil, who will coordinate the lobby's activity, said at the session: "We are not thirsty for blood. On the contrary, we are acting for life and for the defense of our rights to live in peace and quiet. The terrorists' cruelty forces us to take preventative steps, and this move is vital for deterrence. This was proven in the U.S.: when the death penalty was abolished in the 70s the murder rate rose, and when in was brought back in the 80s the murder rate went down by more than 50 percent." Dep. Min. Kara cited the poll published Monday that pointed to wide public backing for the death penalty on terrorist murderers. "Seventy percent of the public support the death penalty for terrorists, and this is the result of two formative events," he said. "First – the cruelty of the terrorists that is on the rise, as evinced in the Fogel family massacre. And second – the release of 1,027 terrorists in the Shalit deal, after which the public understood that even in a hundred years' time, the Middle East will not speak Yiddish and the answer to terror is a deterrent penalty."
Tags: death sentence ,Fogel Massacre
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7. Ketzaleh: Rivlin Has No Right to Criticize
by A7 Staff  MK Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz (National Union) answered criticism by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on Monday saying Rivlin failed to establish the facts before launching his salvo. “The Knesset Speaker can criticize any comments made in the Knesset or in committee meetings, but he has no right to complain about what MKs say elsewhere, and certainly not when his complaints are based on rumors, without clarifying the matter,” Katz said. “I have never hidden my criticism of the way the High Court conducts itself, reflecting the opinion of many in this country," Katz clarified. "On the one hand, I have nothing but full respect for the institution of the High Court, and for its standing and work.” However, Katz said, there were many who felt a need to express “their disappointment, over and over, at the way the court has been run by Aharon Barak and the current honored President Dorit Beinisch." The Katz-Rivlin row comes just one day after the first of a slate of judicial reform bills was killed in a ministerial committee after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed his opposition to the bills and vowed to protect the court. Netanyahu said Sunday's bill, which would have introduced the concept of legal standing into Israel's court system, would "impair the independence of Israel's courts." Standing, however, is a bedrock principle of Western common law that ensures courts not be flooded by third-party lawsuits, which is the case in Israel at present. The seminal concept of standing – albeit in less crystallized form – is also found in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. A second judicial reform bill that would require prospective Supreme Court justices be vetted by a Knesset committee - much as their US counterparts are vetted by the Senate - is also expected to be killed in committee on Netanyahu's orders. Critics of the current appointment system say it essentially allows the Supreme Court to self-elect its members - and has led to a court that does not reflect the broad range of views held by the Israeli populace. If the candidates were vetted and the choices reflected the majority in the Knesset, that could change with each election, while now, the court, just as politicized, has retained an unchallenged leftist makeup for many years.
Tags: Reuven Rivlin ,Yaakov Katz ,Judicial Reform
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8. Nonconformist Pundit Slams Press' Festival of Hypocrisy'
by Gil Ronen  Columnist Kalman Libeskind of Maariv has penned an article slamming his fellow journalists who participated last week in a convention to protest and organize against what they see as the government's persecution of the press. His voice is a lonely one in the Israeli press, which has united in vilifying the coalition for what it sees as anti-democratic legislation. The maverick blogger called the confab at Tel Aviv's Cinematheque "a huge festival of hypocrisy." "Five hundred journalists gathered there to mourn the approaching demise of democracy," Libeskind wrote in his latest column. "'These are dark days,' they warned. 'Freedom of expression is at risk.' "Don't believe them. They are not worried about the freedom of expression or about democracy. Each one of them came to this conference bearing a load of anger at the stupid MKs from the right that the stupid people have elected. And if we are, indeed, in dark days for democracy, the source of the darkness is that group of journalists who decided to assassinate the democratic process and prevent the elected leaders from fulfilling their mission. The source of this darkness is a violent decision by the press, to brutally assassinate the character of whoever proposes a bill that does not jibe with the values of their news desk, so that he has no choice but to abandon it. "Do you really care about freedom of expression, friends? Freedom of the press? Democracy? Maybe you can remind me where you were when the voice of Arutz Sheva was silenced, in a shutdown that stifled a populace that had no other vehicle for making its position known? Why didn't you convene at the Cinematheque then? And where were you when the Oslo B Accords were purchased in exchange for Goldfarb's Mitsubishi [in 1995, MKs Gonen Segev and Alex Goldfarb bolted the Tzomet party, joined Labor, and cast the two votes that enabled Oslo II to pass by a margin of 61-59. Goldfarb received a cabinet post that included a Mitsubishi official car – ed.]. "You did not see that as hurtful to democracy, did you? And when Arik Sharon fired Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Elon from the government just so he could pass the Disengagement plan? Be honest, weren't those days just a shade more dark for democracy than the bill that will set aside a place on the Committee for Selection of Judges to the chairman of the Bar Association?" "Isn't it a bit funny," Libeskind asked, "that the only voices that can be heard in this discourse are those that whine that they are being stifled? Listen to Reshet Bet and IDF Radio, watch channels 2 and 10, look at Channel 1's main Friday newscast and tell me if this is what a government-controlled press looks like." "I heard some journalists explaining this week that the press, too, needs to do some soul searching. Don’t believe them," he warned. "They said it after Oslo. They said it after the Disengagement. They will say it in the future, too. This is their habit. They sin on purpose and then call for reflection. Not because they think it is necessary. It just sounds enlightened." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Everyday of Freedom is an Act of Faith for my writings ============> http://robertoscaruffi.blogspot.com for something on religions ===> http://scaruffi1.blogspot.com
Tuesday 29 November 2011
